Ok, so the title of this blog is somewhat exaggerated, but in the world of corporations, it somehow fits perfectly. With the accelerated growth of Google products like Android and Google+, to name a few, it is inevitable that some may join the party, or if they can't, beat them up with huge number of patent infringement cases. I find this somehow funny, really. Isn't it exactly defines the word "competition"? I'll site you an example here in our local country.
We have this city-wide electric power distributor, which currently owns almost all households electric utility supplies in Mega Manila. Now, what if other companies started distributing their own electricity to households and lower their price than the current price set by the first one? The effect should be good, in the perspective of the consumer of this product. But in a corporate world, it is not good. People might loose their job cause by this continuous depreciation of value of product to be in the top of the competition. Now what do we have here? Is this a simple principle of some Chinese people to price low, sell in bulk (this is just my observation)?
Call it butterfly effect, I call it unbalanced.
Google ups the ante when it comes to tablet and mobile personal devices. But what I see in their behavior is that they let the leading pack to let 'em be the first in the market. Then they observe the product, see the flaws, then develop their own which, as you've expect it, resolves those flaws by adding in their own taste to it. It never was their own in the first place, but these so called "enhancements" they put it in their product, we, as a consumer, see a different product with silver lining in it to attract much more than the already monolithic-product-with-flaws.
I read some comments with the iOS in iPhone. They say that they wanted a home screen, but instead they got tiles and pages of apps as the home screen. Google solve this by adding a Home Screen that can customized to the users tastes. They wanted a phone that is almost similar to a personal computer, but instead they got a closed-source platform and OS. Google solves that by adding a touch of linux into their Android OS. Now in facebook comments, they wanted to see their friend live in person, but only got pictures. Google solves that by integrating Picasa and a group video chat within a browser (take note of the word "group") into their new social networking platform, Google+.
Ask them what their goal is, they say that they want to be the number one in this industry. And how do they start with it? By filing patent infringement lawsuits to their competitors. I don't see any good at it, and it is a double edged sword. When they win, good for them. But if they loose, expect to pay some unimaginable amount, plus the additional cause of the hearing process. Oh, and don't forget the lawyer, he/she should be paid professionally. Win-win or loose-loose, it's never win or loose.
As we, consumers, we don't care! As long as we have choices, we sure love those gadgets. We would buy it one way or the other. We are holding it back to buy most of your product cause it is not practical having two phones with just one mobile number. It's a hassle. And with the upcoming new hardware (quad core, SoC, etc.), we don't need two or more phones. Is it good to talk with one and call with another?
What I like about Google is that they have this Google Ventures which invests into more practical, eco-friendly products, like the one they call EGS which harnesses the power of mother earth a bit deep through her skin (crust). While Apple dominates in their tablet product, they haven't shown much appreciation to the users/consumers, and the world. "What about microsoft?" you say? .....
I believe the most creative and powerful minds are already in Google, but you don't have to be a geek or nature-loving person to be like them. To be a human, to be a consumer, to be a living thing in this planet is what we are. Appreciate people and give something back in return for buying your product may attract you more that what you expect. Pay it forward.
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